October 2016

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Brutally Honest has had quite the run... 13 years ago this month, I launched it as a political blog with a conservative, evangelical bent... and its popularity for a time surprised me.

It was able to garner over the years millions of visits and pageviews and I am most grateful for each and every one however, in the last few years I've seen the readership and the visit/pageview counts take a dramatic dip, likely due in large part to my decision to be more focused on Catholic perspectives, viewpoints and related topics and this played a large role in my deciding it was time to take next steps.

The blog won't necessarily disappear, at least for a while, as there are things written I'd like to keep around until I find a decent way to stow them but additional content posted here, if it happens at all, will be most rare.

So what's next for yours truly?

A new beginning over at Boldly Catholic. It's sparse over there currently but I hope to begin posting more frequently in the near future.

You're welcome to follow me on over... or not... but if you've been a long time reader, allow me to end this post, with some sadness admittedly, to say thank you for your loyalty and the time you've spent on these pages.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

What makes Donald Trump a bad Presidential choice? Is it simply this leaked video of the man being... himself? No. Not at all. It's the sum total of what he has to say and what he's done and there are people in recent days finally waking up to the reality that's been present since the man came on the political scene. Should Hillary get our vote instead? I'm not ready to pull that lever. I continue to believe writing someone in or going third party is best.

It's true that we're all sinners... it's not true that this then should force us to accept/overlook/vote for a deeply flawed candidate. I'm a parent and a grandfather... do I decide that I can't hold my children and grandchildren to a higher standard because I've failed to meet those standards? I don't think so. As a parent and a grandfather, I'm willing to cut a child/grandchild slack... after all, they're my offspring, much younger (obviously) as to the ways of the world, and worthy of my correction. Donald Trump is no child. Donald Trump has a history of these sorts of things. It displays a lack of character that does not bode well as to future performance, particularly in leading these United States and the free world.

It's tough for me personally to trust what a man is now saying when his past suggests that his words mean very little. It's the same problem, only worse, that I have with Hillary Clinton. If a woman is willing to overlook, for political expedience, the breaching of the basic trust that must exist between a man and a woman in marriage, that woman is certainly going to be willing to breach any trust we're supposed to have in her as President of the United States. By that same token, if a man is willing to breach the basic trust that must exist between he and his wife, how more willing is he going to be to breach the trust of those who elected him? I cannot trust either of them to appoint right minded people to the SCOTUS. I cannot trust either of them to advance the cause of the pro-life movement. I cannot trust either of them to promote the values that have made this country great. I cannot do any of these things because past performance is the best gauge for future performance and the past performance of both these people is abysmal.

But there's a much larger reason why I can't particularly support Donald Trump. Whether people find this credible or not, whether they find it relevant or not, I have been moved, despite my flaws and failures, to take up the cause of my Catholic and Christian faith and to do that which in the end will draw others to that same cause. I will fail at times, no doubt but I am largely responsible for and obligated to that cause. How credible will the mission to uphold that cause be, how effective, if I'm seen to be someone who is willing to set aside the mission and support a man who is on record stating that he will target the families (women and children) of our enemies, who believes waterboarding is too mild a method of torture, whose pro-life record is spotty at best, who's promised to do this and that only to reverse himself days and sometimes even hours later, who has little respect for religious liberty, who is willing to walk away from the women and children fleeing the ravages of war, who has decided that your place of birth will impact how credible he'll find you to be, who has never asked God for forgiveness nor sees any real need to do so, who has skewered far too many small business people in pursuit of his own profit and gain, who, in essence, and I could've started here frankly, stands for far too many things that are in direct opposition to the Catholic and Christian mission to which I've pledged my commitment?

This is where I stand, this is my personal line in the sand.

You do what you will but please, for the sake of this country and its future, and, if you consider yourself a follower of the Risen Lord, for the sake of the mission of the universal Church and your part in it, do a very thorough examination of your conscience before voting.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Eddie and I go back a long ways. As many know, we’re first cousins born a month apart 56 or so years ago in Madrid, Spain and we in essence grew up together, off and on, through and up to our adolescent years. There were many memories made and I thought it’d be great to honor Eddie by sharing just a few of them from long ago and then briefly sharing more poignant memories made within the last few months.

Well, legendary stories have been told over the years at our family gatherings of the Eddie Bit Me saga that took place when we were both infants. He and I of course were spared any personal memories of this as we were far too young but to our chagrin, family members have repeated the story often enough. In the Charlie Bit Me series, the older brother was bit on the finger and cried out in pain repeatedly while Charlie giggled with delight. In the Eddie Bit Me story, one that unfolded as we were both placed within close proximity to each other on a blanket, I understand that I too cried out in great pain while Eddie, like Charlie, giggled at the aftermath. Of course there were key differences in the two incidents.

One, there was no video of our event, thank the good Lord… two, unlike Charlie’s big brother, I had to be taken to the hospital and three, it wasn’t any fingers or any toes that Eddie got a hold of. And right there I think is where we’ll leave that particular memory.

Fast forward maybe 8 or 9 years or so to a couple of quick memories involving sports. We both lived in Alexandria at the time and played on the same Little League baseball team. I still have newspaper clippings of those outings that were published in the local paper, to include one game where I was yanked by the coach while in the middle of pitching a no-hitter because he wanted to save me for a big game later in the week. The neat thing was that Eddie was brought in to relieve me and though we didn’t combine for a no-hitter, we did win the game.

Later we tried out for Pee Wee football together, again on the same team and what I remember most about that tryout was that Eddie developed an issue late during practice where he could not get his helmet off his head… turned out it was because he had somehow developed cauliflower ear… the poor guy needed two or three adults to help him get the helmet off which, once removed, scared the heck out of the rest of us as his ear had nearly tripled in size and looked horrible. I can’t recall with certainty but I think we both called it quits for football that season after experiencing that level of trauma.

As fond as those memories are and as much as I’ll cherish them, it’s what took place more recently that will always have special meaning for me personally. We were all struck by Eddie’s strength and character as he served as Diane’s caregiver during her health battles. And we marveled again at his strength and character when he was diagnosed in April and faced his own fight with this dreaded and God-awful disease but what struck me the most was near the end of Eddie’s fight, when he displayed in my view a deep inner strength by realizing and acknowledging that he needed God’s help. Eddie, having been raised Catholic, had talked to a number of us about being visited by a priest and just a few days before he passed, a priest from nearby St. Luke’s Catholic Church was able to see him, a priest who ministered to Eddie by offering him three of the Church’s beautiful Sacraments, the Sacrament of Reconciliation also known as Confession where great dollops of grace are doled out in the form of mercy and forgiveness; the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick where grace can be dispensed in the form of spiritual strength and inner healing; and of course the Sacrament of Holy Communion, where the bread and wine are miraculously transformed into the Real Presence, the body and blood of Christ and for Eddie on this particular day, the Eucharist became food for his journey home. These Sacraments are defined by the Church, as “efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed…”

Think on that for the briefest of moments.

The Sacraments are a means by which the Church dispenses divine life, through the mechanics of a priest who is acting in persona Christi or as the person of Christ. Each of the Sacraments give the grace they signify because the true minister is actually Jesus Christ. This for me is immensely powerful… and beautiful… and deep… and rich… and all the more reason why I am personally grateful I made the decision a few short years ago to return to my Catholic roots.

Though I wasn’t there that day, I heard later through family members that Eddie was moved by the experience and it’s that moving that I will hold on to as I think of Eddie now… and as I think of Eddie in the future, a man to whom I owe a great deal.

Eddie, may the angels lead you into paradise, may the martyrs welcome you in your coming, and may they guide you into the holy city Jerusalem. May the chorus of angels receive you and with Lazarus, once a poor man, may you have eternal rest.

Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Recently, I've been reexamining some of my deepest political convictions out of a desire to be a more faithful Catholic. The hard truth is, I may not be able to align myself with *any* major American political movement in the near future, as long as those movements continue to conflict, in different ways, with the social teachings of the Catholic Church. I'm not withdrawing from politics, but I don't want to be a "Party man" for the left or the right anymore. I'm not a Republican. I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a Libertarian. I'm a Catholic Christian. From what I can see, the teachings of the Church don't fit in very well with virtually *any* current major American political category.

The nomination of Donald Trump by the GOP and the rabid support he's receiving by people I believed at one time I was aligned with from an ideological and even religious perspective has solidified for me something I've been reluctant to say aloud now for some time and it's pretty much what my Facebook friend has said above.

I'm no longer a Republican. I've never been a Democrat. I'm certainly not a Libertarian. I'm not liberal and sadly, I'm coming to grips with the fact that no longer can I call myself conservative... not if the yardstick used to measure conservatives is the one measuring my conservatism on whether or not I'm voting for Trump.

I'm Catholic. A practicing Catholic, meaning I don't have it down yet and likely never will but what has crystallized for me this election season is that I've shed the conservative label and though some will use that shedding to call me a liberal now (while many a liberal will continue to call me a conservative), the reality has come clearly into focus.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

It took me longer that it should have but I've finally finished Elizabeth's Scalia's Little Sins Mean A Lot. My delay in finishing the book should not however skewer your perception of its worth. In fact, an argument could be made that a number of personal little sins were piling up to prevent me from finishing it earlier.

The reality is that the book is a page turner, much like her previous one, filled with valuable tidbits of truth, sprinkled with morsels of enlightenment, crammed with references to the saints, the Catechism and the Scriptures, all purposed in practically showing the reader what steps to take and/or to avoid in ensuring that he or she stays out of life's swamplands.

Elizabeth's message is a simple one. Yes, it's true that we're not to make a mountain out of a mole-hill, yet it's also true that mountains can be made by stacking mole-hills, particularly self-destructive ones.

We're all familiar, or should be, with deadly sin. Pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth are the biggies, the soul-killers, the transgressions fatal to spiritual progress.

But what about their younger cousins, their adolescents, their mini-mes? Elizabeth dives, over 13 chapters, into a variety of mole-hill sins, to include such things as procrastination, self-neglect, gossip, spite, self recrimination. In each of her chapters, she includes sections that detail what Catholicism has to say about those sins and what the faithful Catholic might do to practically deal with them.

As an example, in her chapter on cheating, she advises the cheater to be ruthlessly honest, even brutally honest, with themselves:

We live in an age that does not appreciate such a thing; to be brutally honest with another is considered rude and nearly always considered "insensitive" because it hurts. To be brutally honest with the self hurts too - it clarifies what is lacking on our own character - but it is also a dicey proposition. Once we are willing to admit to ourselves that we're not quite as honest as we think we are - and that if we think we can get away with something, we'll probably try it - then we have to make sure we don't overcorrect ourselves into neurotic scrupulosity. We also have to remember that God is merciful, and that could tempt us into applying great dollops of mercy all over ourselves, which would, by doing nothing to change our behavior, probably sink us further down into the pit.

What is necessary against this sin is sacramental confession: a real examination of where we have cheated, how we have done it, and what we thought we were getting out of it needs to be undertaken, and then confessed. Consider actually writing things down so that you can really be thorough in your admissions, because you are admitting things to God and to yourself, and naming one's sin aloud is often the catalyst for defeating it.

That excerpt for me is the point of the book, the point in fact of Christianity, to understand and embrace sin's defeat. We cannot do this by diminishing the harmful effects that all sin, not just the biggies, have on the believer. Ms. Scalia clearly knows this and her book effectively communicates it.

Do yourself the favor of picking it up, reading it, inwardly digesting it and then passing it on. You'll not regret doing so.

A careful reading of the two most recent entries in the Plainly Palinincredible category, each now a tad more than two years old (and accessible via the related article links below), would clearly show that the Palin schtick was beginning to get old for me then, an oldness that grew completely stale when she wholeheartedly endorsed Donald Trump in January.

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said in an interview that aired Sunday that House Speaker Paul Ryan could be ousted for his hesitancy to back Donald Trump, and suggested Ryan's reluctance was fueled by aspirations to run for president in 2020.

When asked for her thoughts about Ryan's stance on Trump, Palin invoked former Rep. Eric Cantor. The ex-Republican House majority leader, who was viewed as the likely successor to former House Speaker John Boehner, was defeated by a Tea Party challenger in a stunning upset in the 2014 Virginia primary. Ryan ultimately took the position after Boehner retired.

"I think Paul Ryan is soon to be 'Cantored,' as in Eric Cantor," Palin said on CNN. "His political career is over but for a miracle because he has so disrespected the will of the people, and as the leader of the GOP, the convention, certainly he is to remain neutral, and for him to already come out and say who he will not support was not a wise decision of his."

I no longer find myself thinking that Palin is capable of addressing what is or isn't wise and her full-throated endorsement of Trump is likely the flagship reason. Since Ryan is reluctant to support the bigoted, xenophobic and horrifically unqualified Trump, Palin has decided that he should be 'Cantored' which of course is her prerogative, as is my own to decide that she now joins the ranks of those who, thanks to Donald Trump, have been unmasked as anything but principled people.

Ryan, for what it's worth, impressed me not long ago when he did quite the about-face in how he perceives the poor:

"But in a confident America, we aren’t afraid to disagree with each other. We don’t lock ourselves in an echo chamber, where we take comfort in the dogmas and opinions we already hold. We don’t shut down on people — and we don’t shut people down. If someone has a bad idea, we tell them why our idea is better. We don’t insult them into agreeing with us. We try to persuade them. We test their assumptions. And while we’re at it, we test our own assumptions too.

I’m certainly not going to stand here and tell you I have always met this standard. There was a time when I would talk about a difference between “makers” and “takers” in our country, referring to people who accepted government benefits. But as I spent more time listening, and really learning the root causes of poverty, I realized I was wrong. “Takers” wasn’t how to refer to a single mom stuck in a poverty trap, just trying to take care of her family. Most people don’t want to be dependent. And to label a whole group of Americans that way was wrong. I shouldn’t castigate a large group of Americans to make a point.

So I stopped thinking about it that way — and talking about it that way. But I didn’t come out and say all this to be politically correct. I was just wrong. And of course, there are still going to be times when I say things I wish I hadn’t. There are still going to be times when I follow the wrong impulse."

Correcting your course after following the wrong impulse suggests strongly that you've been influenced by some idea, some proposition, some mindset or philosophy that has not only shown you the error of your ways but has given you the courage to change your direction.

My hope is that this influence is Ryan's Catholic faith, the same faith that finds me abandoning both the left and the right when it comes to politics, an abandoning that has accelerated with the rise of Donald Trump and the attitudes put on display by his supporters.

The following video put out by then Father and now Bishop Robert Barron, speaks boldly to what the faith teaches as it relates to what Paul Ryan, in part, is referencing above. Give it a listen. It touches on that which has given me the clarity I've been seeking for most of my life, the clarity I was not finding in political ideology.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Who among your circle of family, friends and loved ones might be in need of God's great mercy? Who among them might have dragons that need slaying? Who among them might need to experience the invisible but tangible presence of God?

As I write this, and as you read the words written, people all around us are facing desperate situations causing them to, silently or aloud, willingly or instinctively, cry out to God for help and compassion, kindness and forgiveness, healing and love. Indeed, for mercy.

Earlier today, I was made aware of a circumstance where I imagine this kind of crying out either has already, or soon will be, played out. The details are not yet fully known but mercy's need unquestionably revealed, a mercy that by faith can end with inner peace, an inner peace paradoxically birthed by embracing that mercy.

ALT. Your book is ostensibly about healing from painful memories, but you spend a lot of time instead writing about surrender to God. This is a very difficult trick to pull off, and you have said it was deliberate on your part. Why did you choose to write your book that way?

EDEN. ​I’m really glad you picked up on the fact that the book’s invitation to find healing from painful memories is really meant as an entrée into a deeper experience of divine providence. The reason I make that shift is because, from a psychological standpoint—and this is something acknowledged by spiritual writers such as Augustine and Teresa of Avila and beyond—we can’t find healing if we remain fixated on the details of our messy lives. Healing comes through seeking God’s grace that we might cooperate in His plan for us.

So, there is a real need for those of us who have suffered spiritual wounds to stop asking “why did I suffer this wound” and start asking “how can God use me in my woundedness”? When we see how God, in His mercy, wishes to bring us exactly as we are—with all we’ve done and all we’ve suffered—into His divine plan for the salvation of the world, that’s when we find healing.

ALT. Your book’s title announces that it is about mercy, but in what sense do people who suffer painful memories like the loss of a child through no fault of anyone, or sexual abuse, need mercy? Isn’t mercy just for one’s personal sins?

EDEN. Divine Mercy does refer, in its primary meaning, to the mercy of God that forgives our personal sins. But all wounds come from the original sin of Adam that created a crack in all of creation. Jesus, in dying on the Cross, redeemed us both from original sin and from personal sin. God’s mercy therefore saves us not only from our own sins but also from the effects of sin. When we surrender our heart to it, whatever harms us physically or mentally can no longer separate us from Him. It can only draw us closer to Him by making us more like His wounded and risen Son.

ALT: So is your book about mercy, healing, or surrender? Or are these three inseparably connected somehow?

EDEN. ​Yes, that’s exactly right—mercy, healing, and surrender are inseparably connected, and Remembering God’s Mercy is about all three. The part about surrender can be hard because, having suffered evil, we find it hard to trust in the goodness of God. So, I gently walk the reader through the journey of discovering where God is in the reader’s heart right now, even in the midst of suffering. Once you can identify that place in your heart where God’s presence is active, it becomes easier to follow Him toward the healing that He wishes to bring you. For me, as I share in Remembering God’s Mercy, I find God’s active presence in my very desire for Him.

Read the whole thing and then pass it on. It may contain the seeds of that which could sprout into something much needed and necessary.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

I drink coffee only on Thursdays. This is partly because I am a weirdly patterned person. It’s also because I feel insecure ordering my preferred tea at a coffee shop; it’s like ordering a salad at a steakhouse. But the main reason I drink coffee on Thursdays is because that’s the day I take a little sign that says “Free Prayer”and sit at a local coffee shop for a few hours.

I like to think I have great ideas, but good advice gets all the credit for my work as a first-call parish pastor. One mentor and professor, for example, shared this: “As pastors, the first thing we have to do is take care of our people.” With that in mind, I focused my first year of ministry on spending time at people’s homes, setting up several visits a week to meet their dogs, applaud their children’s artwork and pray with them around their dinner tables.

A second bit of advice came from a clergyman who offered this: “A pastor is doing the job well when at least half of his or her time is spent outside the office.” Pastors regularly go out on hospital visits or stop by the homes of newcomers, but the administrative demands of parish ministry otherwise keep many of us shackled to our swivel chairs. For me, come Thursday mornings, after too much time within my office walls, I become cantankerous. So for everyone’s sake, I heed that good advice and break out of my sacred confines, fleeing to a local coffee shop for reading and sermon writing.

When I first started doing this last summer, I felt insecure and self-indulgent -- an incognito clergyman in shirt and tie munching an “everything” bagel with cream cheese and calling it work. I had to legitimize pastoring in Panera.

That’s when I began wearing my clergy collar each Thursday and setting up at any one of my church’s dozen or so “satellite campuses” (i.e., the coffee shops where I typically run into several parishioners I’ve missed the previous Sunday morning). I bring with me a sign that says “Free Prayer,” with a quote at the bottom from Martin Luther: “Pray, and let God worry.”

And people stop to pray with me every time.

One brisk October morning, a man I had not met walked through the ever-swinging door of the local Starbucks. Amari, from West Philadelphia, had business at the courthouse in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the town where I serve. He looked at me and asked, “‘Free prayer’? What’s that?” I explained that I’m a pastor in town who goes out to where people are during the week to offer prayer. Tears welled up in his eyes. He placed his coffee and courthouse papers on my table and walked outside.

Many of those walking by were overtly averting their eyes, not wanting to allow me into their space, into the hustle and bustle this season brings into people's worlds. I was absolutely ok with this. After all, many of us mistrust, suspect, even judge men with cardboard signs on busy street corners. I certainly do.

Occasionally, I would cry out to the averters within earshot and say simply, I'm not here for your money, I'm simply looking for people who need hugs or prayers or both. Some would pretend I had not been heard. Others would look my way quickly then just as quickly look away. A few would smile and one or two, without stopping, would simply say, yes, pray for me. And I would.

As mentioned in that piece, most people ignored the offer, walking past as if I wasn't even there but a few did stop and I was rewarded greatly by those brief encounters.

It all brings me back to the title of this post. Should you encounter someone on the streets or in a coffee shop offering prayer, particularly someone wearing the telltale collar, what would be your response? Would you take advantage of the offer? Would you walk on by?

It's intriguing to me to know what the reasons would be for either stopping for prayer or deciding not to.

Today, while much of the world marks the new beginning of the calendar year, the Church commemorates the great solemnity of the Mother of God.

What does this mean?

That the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God means that the child— conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, carried in her body for nine months, and born into this world— is God. As such, this celebration highlights the pivotal truth of the Church's Faith- that God has, in Jesus Christ, accepted a human nature, chosen to be born into this world as we have all been born into this world, and has lived a real, human life.

In doing so, God has accepted the full implication of what is means to be human, including the experiences of suffering and death.

...

The "how" of God accepting a human nature is an absolute mystery. It is a revelation that while it can be appreciated and believed, it can never be fully explained.

That the Blessed Virgin Mary is called Mother of God is not pious boilerplate, a kind of title by which we honor the woman who is the mother of Jesus Christ.

To testify that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God is simultaneously a statement about her and a statement about Christ. On the one hand, it highlights the identity and mission of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an identity and mission that is absolutely singular and unique. No one else is or will ever be the Mother of God. No one else knows Christ as God in the manner that the Blessed Virgin Mary did.

God chose her in such a way that he does not choose us. God made the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary something that our lives will never be. There are points of contact between her experience and our own. She is fully and completely human, like we are. She is not divine. Nor does she, as a result of her unique identity and mission, turn into some kind of divine being. She is like us, but there is something so radically different about her identity and mission that while we can love her, we cannot fully understand her. She is a mystery.

So it is with her Divine Son.

When we identify the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of God, the emphasis is only secondarily on her- it is primarily about Christ. Mary being referred to as the Mother of God tells us that Jesus Christ is God and was always God. Christ did not "turn" into God, and calling Christ God is not just some kind of projection by which we make Jesus of Nazareth someone very important. That Jesus is really and truly is God is a fact. God accepting a human nature in Christ and lived a real, human life is not just a story we tell that is all symbol, myth and legend- it is all true and it really happened.

Now, you might be waiting at this point for the "lesson"- a point of contact between the testimony I have given and your experience. We are accustomed to think that preaching must always deliver a lesson, but in this case, if there is a lesson, it is that God will always exceed human expectations and will do so in ways that are absolutely extravagant. What God had done and will do will not fit neatly into our categories of understanding nor will he be bound by what we think he should do.

What God will deliver to us are mysteries, and it is through these mysteries that we will be able to see and, even in our own limited way, understand who God is and what he asks of us. But even as this happens, what is given to us is not a way of figuring God out. The Incarnation of God in Christ is the singular and privileged way by which God reveals himself to the world. We see in Christ with the greatest clarity possible who God is and what he is all about.

For many years, I joined the throngs of believing Christians who thought the Catholic focus on Mary was too much, was idolatrous, was extreme and even cultic. That thought was borne of ignorance in many respects but also from my own intentional desire to be as completely Christ centered as I could possibly be as I chased being a faithful guy.

Now I'm finding that the more I come to honor Mary, the more devoted I am to her, the more I venerate her as the Father's chosen salvific vehicle, the more aware of Christ I become.

Monday, December 28, 2015

I've said time and again that my granddaughter slays me... what follows, captured for eternity I hope, is one solid reason why I love smart phones and their clever apps... and my son's beautiful daughter: